MEMORANDUM

Here are the three big takeaways from today’s primary election results—

DESPITE CRIST’S FULL EMBRACE OF ALL THINGS OBAMA, DEMOCRATS UNDER-PERFORMED THEIR BENCHMARK EXPECTATIONS IN TODAY’S PRIMARY.

The Tampa Bay Times reported on August 22 that “Democrats should turn out in bigger numbers than Republicans because they have two statewide contests,” but Democrats were actually out-voted by Republicans in this year’s primary. Compare this to the 2002 campaign, the last time a Republican incumbent governor ran for re-election in Florida, where Democrats had 40 percent more votes in their primary than did Republicans. At time of writing, Republicans have 16 percent more votes than Democrats – despite the Republican primary being virtually uncontested. Charlie Crist has the misfortune of being the only Democrat in America running towards President Obama, with Crist making his support of ObamaCare and the Washington D.C. agenda the centerpiece of his campaign.

CHARLIE CRIST FAILED TO MEET EXPECTATIONS IN HIS OWN PRIMARY.

Crist showed once again that his campaigns fall short of their own bluster when the final tally is in. Based on polling released before the primary, Crist was expected to win his primary with more than 81% of the vote against Senator Nan Rich.

GOVERNOR SCOTT HAD A RECORD-SETTING DAY – RECEIVING MORE VOTES THAN ANY PRIMARY GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE IN FLORIDA HISTORY.

Despite the lack of a competitive statewide primary, Republicans are on pace to shatter records with the highest primary turnout ever. Our campaign has remained focused on the general election, unlike the Crist campaign’s efforts to get out the vote in the Democrat primary. Republicans turned out organically to re-elect Governor Scott, while the Crist campaign spent precious dollars trying to coax Democrats to vote – and the Crist campaign still failed.

Lance deHaven-Smith, a political scientist at Florida State University, told Reuters earlier this week that low Democrat turnout in the primary “would not be good for Crist,” and pointed out that Democrats typically lose statewide elections in Florida when turnout is low. With 70 days until the election, Crist has failed to energize Democrats and Governor Scott is in a strong position to win re-election.